Lascorz Faces Rookie WSBK Challenge

When Joan Lascorz joined the World Supersport series aboard a Honda in 2008, he finished fifth overall. The Spaniard then signed with Kawasaki, and bettered his overall Supersport finish to fourth in 2009, and third in 2010.

And now Lascorz is hoping this progression spills over into the World Superbike Championship. The 25-year-old Lascorz signed with the Kawasaki Superbike team for 2011 aboard the all-new ZX-10R. He will join a three-rider Kawasaki team that will also field Tom Sykes and Chris Vermeulen.

The rookie Lascorz will now take his World Supersport experience that consists of 52 races (three wins, 19 podiums), and contest against WSBK’s finest riders, such as reigning World Superbike Champion Max Biaggi (Alitilia Aprilia RSV4) and Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati 1198).

The Kawasaki SBK rider has already showed promise; at Portimao for the first official WSBK test of 2011 (following outings at Almeria and Sepang), Lascorz was 10th fastest overall, just over a second slower than the session’s leader, Jakub Smrz (Ducati).

Besides celebrating his first-ever World Superbike race, Lascorz will also be turning 26 at Phillip Island on Feb. 27 during the first of 13 WSBK races.

Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki World Superbike) says: "At Portimao I only wanted to ride in dry conditions so the first day was a good one to test in, and check how the bike and I were going. The bike was good and I was surprised that I was also good. Not 100% yet, but better.

"The Ninja is really competitive and I was very surprised with the latest developments, it’s improved a lot in several areas. I worked well with Pere and we found a good dry set-up but looking at my ideal times I could have been about 0.6 seconds better.

In the wet I did not want to risk things too much, but we made some good laps when it was fully wet. I stopped when the track surface became inconsistent as I really is not want to risk a fall. The Kawasaki team staff have been explaining very clearly to me where I can improve and I really appreciate that."